IN REVIEW: Primus - "The Desaturating Seven"

There's always been something whimsical about Primus, whose unique brand of prog rock was often bolstered by silly stories involving silly characters. That's why it wasn't that much of a stretch when Primus recorded a tribute to the soundtrack for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2014, and that's also why it isn't so far fetched that their first album of original material in six years would be based off a children's book about goblins who gluttonously consume colour.

Still, after 2011's Green Naughahyde showed some serious signs of maturity and suggested a more mature future for Primus, their transformation into glorified children's entertainers is a little disappointing for those who wanted to see where that other, more topical Primus could go (for a consolation, I suppose last year's album by The Claypool/Lennon Delirium might suffice). Of course, feel free to draw comparisons between the goblins of this story and the monsters in positions of authority; that said, it's not fake news that this entire album is based off a story written for children nearly forty years ago, and how could its Italian author have seen Trump coming?

Musically, I'm happy to report, The Desaturating Seven is thrilling; Les Claypool's snappy bass mastery is in full effect, and the band has created a wondrous sonic buffet to compliment it. The songs are captivating and alive, with a few stretching out well past the six minute mark. That said, like a children's book, The Desaturating Seven goes by pretty quickly, coming in at just seven tracks and 34 minutes. Sure, there are plenty of great albums that clock in under this and are looked at as fully fleshed out albums, but those aren't proggy conceptual pieces with a story arc and all of that. Even if part of that concept is one song for each colour of the rainbow, at least tack on an intro/outro and/or release the thing as an EP; as a full priced album experience, it's a little slight. This is brought into clear focus by The Ends, the hasty closing track which clocks in at under two minutes and reprises its opening track for the last thirty seconds, which essentially acts as that intro/outro I was asking for, but drags the number of actual songs down to six.

I suppose this short story would be less of a disappointment to those more forgiving and/or more medicated than myself, but I just can't help but wonder what this prime lineup (of note, this is the first original album to feature the "classic" Primus lineup since 1995's Tales from the Punchbowl) could have been capable of had they been freed of this concise and strange concept. Given the opportunity to marry this music with less restrictive subject matter (and, you know, write more of it), we might have gotten a Primus album that rivals their commercial and critical zenith; sadly, The Desaturating Seven feels much like Primus and the Chocolate Factory, destined to be known more as a footnote of their career than a grand return.

September 29, 2017 • ATO
Highlights The Seven • The Trek • The Storm